Thursday, March 24, 2011

Robert

Robert's How to Say Nothing in 500 Words was an exploration into the obvious. Maybe it's just me, but when I read the initial paper the student wrote, I thought to myself “wow, what a crappy paper”, and I wasn't surprised when the instructor gave him a D. Most of his advice is obvious to me, as I had been taught most of this since 8th grade, but maybe I can understand that it may had been of value back in the 50's when he wrote it. How he wrote it, though, was brilliant. He illustrates an average writer's thought process (and also an average procrastinator) perfectly. The piece felt not at all like a self-help piece for most of it, and when it did, it wasn't as bad as many writer's guides I've read. All in all, the piece was okay, but not spectacular by any means.